At North Carolina’s Black Mountain College, erstwhile commune and artistic playground of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg and many others a spirit of radical democracy prevailed. Students and teachers shared roles and work, boundaries between disciplines dissolved, and art bled into life, nurturing an atmosphere of unfettered creative collaboration.

In Black Mountain Songs, performed by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, commissioned and produced by BAM and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and curated by Bryce Dessner and Richard Reed Parry, that collective thread is renewed. Seven composers—Dessner, Parry, Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Aleksandra Vrebalov, John King, and Tim Hecker—collaborate with director Maureen Towey and filmmaker Matt Wolf to create an expansive choral and visual work that celebrates and rekindles Black Mountain’s utopian spirit.

Arcade Fire

Creative Director, The Suburbs

2009-2012

Contributed to projects such as:

-- Internationally touring stage show and Grammys performance

-- Summer Into Dust installation for Coachella; collaborating with Chris Milk, the Moment Factory, and the Creators Project

-- Producer of several Haiti-based charitable projects including the Haitian Creole translation of the BBC Planet Earth series

NYT VR

For The New York Times, Towey helped to found and lead The Daily 360, the only series in the world to create professional VR journalism on a daily basis. She led an extraordinary team producers and editors in collaborating with reporters around the world.

Finding Penelope

The Penelope Project was a collaborative effort to dramatically raise the bar on activities in long term care. Using the story of Penelope from Homer’s Odyssey, our team of staff, residents, artists, and students engaged an entire long term care community in creativity and learning. Everyone was welcome.

Discussion groups, movement exercises, visual art, stories, and music all emerged from this multi-year project that culminated in the performance of FINDING PENELOPE, a professionally-produced play staged inside the care facility. Over 400 people attended the performances. The Penelope documentary is currently touring the country and the Penelope book is under commission from the University of Iowa Press.

The Islands of Milwaukee

The Islands of Milwaukeeuses the arts to build relationships and create a more connected community as we age. A city-wide process blending engagement, performance, installation, participatory research, cross-sector partnerships, online activity, and in-home encounters.

Check out some of the radio segments Maureen produced with community partner WUWM.

Islands of Milwaukee culminated in an exhibit that took over Milwaukee City Hall in September 2014. Read more in this fantastic review.

tUnE-yArDs

Creative Director working across stage, photo, and video

Design Collaborator: Kate Pruitt

Nikki Nack Tour, 2014-2015

Throwing Bones

Sojourn Theatre

Portland, OR 2007-2008

Based on Towey's research as a Fulbright scholar, Throwing Bones examines medicine and mortality through a South African lens.